Forests serve many important functions – protecting watersheds, storing carbon, serving as habitat, providing forest products like timber, and on and on. They also don’t adhere to man-made boundaries. Forests spread across city, county, and state lines, and what one jurisdiction does with a forest impacts the surrounding areas, too.
The same idea is true in a larger context. Forests (and how they are managed) in one country have an impact on people living in neighboring countries and on the other side of the world. With that in mind, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations commissions a report every five years assessing the state of the world’s forests. Natural Inquirer has published three journals based on these reports’ findings, providing a snapshot of the world’s forests over the years.
In this series of “From the Library” posts, I’ll be highlighting some of our publications, with ideas about how to use them in your educational plans. Today, I’ll be taking a deeper dive into the World’s Forests 2 edition of Natural Inquirer, written for middle school students.
Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the second of these World’s Forests editions. These publications are set up a little differently than regular Natural Inquirer editions. Articles are based on each of the five inquiries in the report, which examine different facets of the world’s forests. Let’s take a look.
“Inquiry 1: What kinds of forests grow on Earth and where are they found?”
The first inquiry resulted in an inventory of the world’s forests for that year. Scientists collected data about what kinds of forests grew in each participating country and whether the overall forested area increased or decreased from past reports. Using this data, scientists were able to pinpoint areas of forest growth and loss around the world.
“Inquiry 2: Are the world’s forests helping conserve biodiversity?”
Scientists wanted to measure how well forests around the world protected biodiversity. Biodiversity is difficult to measure, especially on a large scale like this. In this case, scientists collected data on how much forested land was primary forest (without man-made structures) and how much land had been set aside for conservation in each participating country. Scientists explored various threats to biodiversity and shared how their countries were attempting to address these threats.
“Inquiry 3: What do forests do for the world’s environment and its people?”
Scientists gathered data on three types of benefits provided by the world’s forests: productive benefits (what humans make from the forest), protective benefits (what the forests protect, like clean drinking water and air), and social and economic benefits. They measured how much forested land each country was using for each of these benefits to understand how countries were balancing their forest needs.
“Inquiry 4: What do the world’s forests have to do with climate change?”
Carbon storage in forests helps mitigate some of the effects of climate change. Scientists measured how much carbon was being stored in the world’s forests – in the trees themselves, in leaf litter and fallen trees, and in the forest soil – and compared these measures to past data to gauge how well the world’s forests are balancing carbon emissions.
“Inquiry 5: How well are we managing forests worldwide?”
Scientists compiled all the data from the previous inquiries to make an overall assessment about how well the world’s forests are being managed. Given all this information, were we making progress towards sustainably managing forests?
How to Use This Publication
- Use these articles to explore topics like the carbon cycle, climate change, and biodiversity.
- Help students understand the nuances of data collection on large-scale environments or populations. What problems do scientists run into while collating data from many sources?
- Have students research a region to compare and contrast how different areas of the world use forests.
- Use the FACTivities included with each inquiry to make connections between the report’s findings and students’ communities, like performing their own forest inventory at school or home.
- Use the included lesson plans for even more ideas for each inquiry to make your own world’s forests unit.
- Combine all three World’s Forests editions to compare and contrast the data on the world’s forests over a period of 15 years.
